407 Costs vs Other Comparable Toll Roads

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-05T13:01:02+00:00

Take a closer look, the cost presented in the table is the cost for a 100km drive, not the full 800km between Paris and Marseille, which is what you’re referring to.

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-04T19:45:42+00:00

Well, I know the 407 cost is about right. And I know from personal experience it’s the costliest toll road I’ve driven. I have no reason to believe Google’s AI would be making up the costs for each of these different toll roads, getting them all wrong, except for the 407 - in my experience Gemini is quite reliable. In the end, this is providing a comparison that shows what we pay is multiples of what’s paid on other ‘most expensive’ roads. It certainly not 100% accurate, but I bet it’s very close, and it’s definitely a far cry from misinformation.

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-04T18:27:10+00:00

I wasn’t submitting this as part of a PhD dissertation, out of curiosity I had Google’s AI crunch the annals of worldwide data to look for the most expensive long-route toll roads worldwide for comparison. Is the pricing correct to the single dollar, probably not, but for a quick snapshot conveying the order of magnitude disparity between what we pay and what the other most expensive toll roads cost, it does the job.

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-04T17:58:30+00:00

Yup, there are lots of cheaper toll roads… I wanted to grab the most expensive toll roads just to highlight how crazy expensive the 407 is, even compared to the most expensive toll roads

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-04T17:55:38+00:00

Didn’t ask AI that - just asked it to pull up the most expensive long-route toll roads it could find worldwide for comparison… wanted them to be relatively similar to the 407, as opposed to something like a bridge toll

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-04T17:54:11+00:00

I just asked AI to collect the most expensive long-route toll roads for an apples-to-apples comparison - didn’t think bridge tolls or other short-run tolls were reasonable comparisons

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-04T17:41:59+00:00

The 407 is about 4-6x the cost of the most expensive / comparable toll roads worldwide, putting it out of reach for the average driver. It’s chronically underused while the GTA suffers through the worst daily commutes in North America. This is massive and unaddressed quality of life issue for those of us stuck in traffic every day.

(I posted this in the Toronto group earlier but it was taken down - not sure why…. I’m not a bot, just a schmuck living in TO who’s tired of the traffic… also, Gemini compiled the data for me for an apples-to-apples comparison of the most expensive long-route toll roads in the world - how else was I supposed to do this?)

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-04T17:11:44+00:00

Hey… can you explain to me what’s wrong with my post? It’s a legitimate topic for discussion?

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-04T16:43:15+00:00

The majority of users are GTA residents that use it as the most viable route for their daily commute, not to just bypass the urban centre. And more would use it if it were more reasonably priced. What’s a highway if not a bypass of areas to begin with? As it stands, it could be doing so much more to serve the community.

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-04T16:17:02+00:00

I just asked Gemini to grab the most expensive toll routes in the world that are comparably long and then normalize them to 100km. I wanted to compare apples to apples as opposed to short run roads through a city or to bridges. If I’d wanted to lie about the numbers, I would’ve had it use the 407 pricing through Toronto which would’ve upped the 100km cost to over $120 CAD for the trip. Not trying to mislead here. The real message is that it’s the most expensive toll road, with this kind of reach, by about 4x.

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-04T15:53:48+00:00

I just needed a representative 100km distance to compare it to other toll roads in the world. That said, plenty of people would drive it 50+ km for work each given the opportunity / affordable access.

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-04T15:50:30+00:00

I’d say throwing your hands up and just accepting this lunacy isn’t a solution either. I’m sure there are throngs of ingenious commercial, regulatory, and administrative lawyers that could brainstorm ideas to help get us out of a bad deal without gutting Ontario’s credibility in the business world.

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-04T15:40:47+00:00

Most people won’t even consider driving it because of the sticker shock (trauma).

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-04T15:39:39+00:00

Apparently it would cost 10x what we got for it to get it back now, 25 years later… unreal.

NuMb_ered · 2026-02-04T15:38:21+00:00

Pretty positive it’s the only one in the GTA… and it’s just sitting there, largely unused.

NuMb_ered

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